Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $65.25.

A number of research analysts recently commented on BALL shares. Barclays reduced their price target on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th.

Institutional Trading of Ball

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter valued at $156,000. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Ball by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 20,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,414,000 after purchasing an additional 1,679 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Ball by 35.7% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,064 shares of the company’s stock valued at $140,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of Ball by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,720,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,864,000 after purchasing an additional 99,306 shares during the period. Finally, Castleview Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Ball by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 2,501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of BALL opened at $49.90 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.94. Ball has a one year low of $49.00 and a one year high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $54.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.34.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. Ball’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ball will post 3.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.32%.

About Ball

Ball Corporation supplies aluminum packaging products for the beverage, personal care, and household products industries in the United States, Brazil, and internationally. The company manufactures and sells aluminum beverage containers to fillers of carbonated soft drinks, beer, energy drinks, and other beverages.